The McElroy brothers talk about moving house after their Edgeware Road home was demolished

Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 29th July 2011 by Liam Physick

David and Steve McElroy remember how they had to move house following the demolition of their house in Edgeware Road, and how their mother fiercely resisted moving for a long time. David also recalls how the move caused a serious inconvenience for him in travelling to university, and how he was sent to inspect their new home (despite the attempts to Steve to claim the credit for it!) before they moved in.

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Interview Transcript

David: My memories of that period were, were different because I was already at the University, so, every day, it was, it was a doddle, because I used to walk, what, six, seven hundred yards, maybe, maybe half a mile and I was at, at the University. We moved – when I was at university – we moved during the Liverpool bus strike . . .

Steve: Yeah.

David: . . . so, we were all, sort of, directly impacted, we all, we, we, it was mixed feelings, moving, but we found a house that Mum liked, and everybody was keen to move to new house and surroundings, but there was certainly a lot of nostalgia in terms of, you know, leaving somewhere we’d all enjoyed so much and had so many good memories of and, to compound it, you know, having to walk about, what, four or five miles, quite often to university, because my dad, whom also worked at university at the time, he used to look after the heating in a number of the buildings, so, so that wasn’t a particularly good time in that respect . . .

Steve: No.

David: . . . but, you know, sort of, but, it was, we, we didn’t have any choice in the matter, you know, we had to go.

Jenny: And do you remember, like, the, the, sort of, lead-up to that happening, like, the decisions that were, sort of, made, like, beyond your control, like, with the CPOs and, you know, was there, was there anybody who like now contested it and . . . ?

Steve: Yeah, a lot, a lot of people held out, you know, the, the, the Rogans, the family who lived on the, on the other side of the road, there was only Ma Rogan and one of her lads, Rocky, living, living there then . . .

David: Yeah.

Steve: . . . but they, they, they just moved out to, to Storrington Avenue, there were big blocks of flats down there and we inherited their dog as a result of me! (Jenny laughs)

David: That’s . . . Oh, yeah.

Steve: Because they couldn’t take the dog with them and, other people were, were OK just going to Netherley and things like that, but me mother just held out, she, she said, “I’m not going, I’m not going”.

David: I mean, in terms answering your question, did we have, did anybody have any choice in the matter, absolutely not . . .

Jenny: No.

David: . . . you get a letter saying, you know, “You have to move”.

Steve: But they didn’t, they didn’t try to force you where to go, because, you know, I know, I say, we were one of the last families in the street because most of the people had moved, but clearly, you look in at that photo over there, there were still people living there, you know, 18 months after we’d gone, which with that, and that actually did surprise me.

David: Or at least the houses are there, whether or not . . .

Steve: Oh the houses, but I think they’d have knocked them down, wouldn’t they, if there had been nobody in them, but, no, I mean, it was, it was CPO and it was, it was all gonna go, but as I say, me mother absolutely rock-solid held out.

David: I think, trying to remember how many houses she was offered before we eventually took that one, and one particularly vivid memory is because, when this one came up, the bus strike was already on, neither of them could go and watch, go and see the house, cos they couldn’t . . .

Steve: I was the first person to go and see it, on me bike! (Jenny laughs)

David: No, I was.

Steve: No, you weren’t!

David: Oh, yes, I was!

Steve: You can’t even ride a (indecipherable), so don’t be giving me that! (Jenny laughs)

David: No, honestly, I, I, I was asked . . .

Steve: Behave!

David: . . . to go and have a look. They asked me to go on, on the bike, and have a look, see what, and, you know, come back . . .

Steve: Cos I was on the bike to school at that stage and, and I . . .

David: So I had to, I had to report back as to, you know, what, what it was, what it consisted of and did it have a garden and so on . . .

Steve: Yeah, and that put you on the (indecipherable).

David: (in a mock accusatory tone) You stole that from me, you! (they all laugh) And that’s why I became an estate agent! (more laughter)

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Edge Hill Station is the oldest passenger railway station in the World. Some say when Stephenson's Rocket left Edge Hill for Manchester on the 15th September 1830 it marked the beginning of the modern world.